If Boredom Kills
by AutumnMobile12
Summary: On the brink of a major case of boredom, Daisya dares to ask Lenalee out for dinner, and triggers a certain Komui's wrath. Should be exciting enough but what happens to the Order when it is apparent Komui will do anything and everything to split the pair up.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Did You See That Coming?

**The Black Order: 1850**

With his legs damaged from one of his frequent overuses of his Charity Bell, Daisya was condemned to a total of seven days respite from any assignments, training, or even running. With a frustrated sigh, he dropped his head back on his bed and miserably wiped his hand across his face. Day One of recuperation…he was already climbing walls and pulling at his hair in aggravation.

His cloak lay discarded on the floor amidst scattered articles of clothing and other items he'd either brought with or acquired since leaving his home, most of which were shells or interesting stones from the sea. He also had collected more than a few dirty dishes he'd procrastinated in returning to the mess hall and a book or two thrown carelessly in the corners of his room. Except for the one in his hand. Energetic as he was, he disliked reading in favor of moving around. But under strict orders from the Head Nurse to take it easy, his choices of entertainment were limited.

Still, he'd been reading the same page over and over again and its contents had been lost to him since the beginning. With an irritated cry of frustration, he tossed the novel and pressed his hands to his eyes. There _had_ to be something to do; there was no way he was practically rotting in here for nothing.

Daisya winced as he stood up and staggered. Beneath his loose pants, from his knees to his ankles, were stark white bandages. The injuries were fresh but no longer bleeding and soaking crimson splotches over his shins. They hurt though. Burning pain shot through his shins every time he so much as twitched his foot, let alone walked.

Still grimacing, the eighteen-year-old limped toward the door, paused for a moment to grab the navy blue shirt lying on the floor, and hobbled outside. Almost immediately, he heard the echoing sounds of clashing wood, labored breathing, and shouts of encouragement. Daisya grinned and started in the direction of the noise.

By request, his room was closest to the sand arena, the lowest level training hall below the pillared chamber and the dojo. He liked being close to the training hall and he normally loved the sounds of training exorcists and finders, but now, the noise antagonized him. He couldn't join in; it was so unfair.

Reaching the hall, he slipped through the great doorway and took note of the source of the commotion. Amidst a sparse crowd, he could see Kanda and Lenalee circling each other with a katana in their hands. Instead of her usual pigtails, Lenalee's forest green hair was worn in a high ponytail like Kanda's and rather than actual swords, they were using a pair of _bokken_, a type of wooden katana meant for training. Judging by the sweat running down their faces and soaking the bandages wrapped around their torsos, Daisya guessed they'd been at it all morning.

It wasn't surprising. Lenalee was the Order's best swordswomen despite the katana wasn't her weapon or even remotely related to it. As Daisya understood it, she began to learn from Kanda in the third year she'd come to be at the Order. In need of a sparring partner, Kanda agreed to train her. To balance her skills, the footwork of swordplay provided excellent basis for her natural training.

But in eight years of keeping fit and competing, she hadn't beaten Kanda once, but their sparring was fierce often led to a close stalemate. She moved just as quickly, but Kanda was stronger and had a longer reach, forcing her into defense more often than offense.

Lenalee dropped into a crouch and skittered out of reach, blocked a downward strike, earning several alarmed cries from the spectators. Daisya grit his teeth in anticipation without really meaning to. He wasn't even sure whom he was rooting for, just that the spar was so exhilarating, he was completely drawn into it. Lenalee backed up again and the two began to circle each other like battling lions, feet dragging in the earth somewhat. _They're getting tired._ Daisya observed.

Would they call a draw? He knew his friends, especially Kanda, would rather see a fight through to the end, but they looked as though they were about to drop from exhaustion. Maybe the two of them would call for a brief 'time out' and continue after resting.

But to his disappointment, the fight drew to a close quicker than he expected, considering how long it seemed to have extended. As usual, it was Kanda who came out as the victor, neatly slashing his blade against Lenalee's and knocking it out of her hand. A tense moment hung in the air as the blade landed on the gravel and slid out of reach. The point of Kanda's _bokken_ was at her neck before she could run and retrieve her weapon. Slowly she raised her hands so they were level with her sweating face. "I yield."

The crowd erupted into cheers and clapping and surrounded the girl as though she was the victor. Lenalee smiled delightfully at everyone's praise but turned to grin at Kanda. "I thought I had you this time."

The older exorcist jabbed his blade into the dirt and left it there as he crossed his arms almost arrogantly. "You've at least ten years on you before you can even think about overthrowing me."

"Then how about I take on the winner?" asked Chakar Laboun as he approached, weapon in hand. He was the only other swordsman exorcist, although he used a broadsword and had a completely different style.

"Hell, no." Kanda abruptly retorted, stalking off in the direction of the door. Daisya smirked. He was probably hungry.

A familiar redhead broke from the crowd and chased after him. "I'll join you. Coming, Lena?" Lenalee trotted to catch up to them, waving at the others as she went, then slowed to a stagger as she reached her friends.

Daisya smiled broadly as they reached him. "How long have you been going at it?"

"We haven't even eaten breakfast yet." Lenalee admitted as he fell into step with her. "Mind if I lean on you, Lavi?"

"No, I don't mind." He replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and allowing her to drape her arm across his shoulders.

Daisya muttered a mathematical equation to himself in dismay. It was almost eleven o'clock now and most of the exorcists (not including him) woke up at six a.m. to train before breakfast. If what Lenalee said was true, then she and Kanda could fight nonstop for five hours with an empty stomach, Kanda seven since he usually woke up at four in the morning to meditate. "I actually think you're starting to give Kanda a run for his money. That's impressive, Moppet."

"Exhausting." Lenalee corrected, pulling her ponytail up so it wouldn't stick to her neck. On the other side of Lavi, Kanda was doing the same; only he nearly stumbled into the wall.

"Am I the only one who can walk?" Lavi asked in amazement, eyeing Daisya's limp.

"Be quiet." Kanda snapped, discreetly putting his hand against the wall for support. Normally, his abnormal endurance allowed him to fight for twice the amount of time the training spar had covered, so why was he so exhausted now?

Daisya frowned in thought. Well, this was the first he'd seen of him in a couple weeks and Lenalee had mentioned him having a strenuous mission in Portugal. (Something about a pack of really big scorpion akuma or whatever.) If it had gone awry, that would account for his depleted energy and temper. Speaking of ill-fated missions, Daisya's train of thought returned to his legs and he scowled fiercely.

"Good God, Daisya!" Lavi cried upon seeing it. "You could make plants wilt with that kind of look! What's the matter?"

Daisya jumped and the hateful expression vanished. "Sorry, it's because of my last mission. You know the one."

Lavi nodded in comprehension. After Daisya had injured his legs, Lavi been forced to carry him back to the town five miles away. There they had taken a rather filthy barge from Norway back to England. "How's your weapon? Can the Science Division fix it?"

Daisya shrugged. In all honesty, he'd put it out of his mind since there was nothing he could do about it. Just like his legs, the Charity Bell had taken on its own significant damage. It hadn't shattered this time, but he remembered the severe fractures that had formed in its metal surface. "I would think so." He drawled, nonchalantly crossing his arms behind his head and trying to stop limping.

"You need to stop pushing yourself." Lenalee advised, concern filling her voice. "Just this year, you've broken the Charity Bell four times, and it's only May. Kanda's been here seven years and only once he's ruined Mugen. And Lavi and I have never broken our weapons."

"Okay, I get it!" Daisya snapped, harsher than intended. Her brother had given him a similar lecture in the infirmary the other day. It was frustrating, and it wasn't as though he broke his weapon on purpose. His resolve to fight was sound and his synchronization flawless. No, his problem lay, as Hevlaska eloquently put it, with his unreasonable overconfidence and desperation to prove himself.

"Hey, don't worry." Lavi reassured. "You just need to pace yourself a little and take things in moderation." Before Daisya could reply, the redhead suddenly scooped Lenalee up in his arms, to her surprise, and began to run. "Come on, it's chow time!"

-0-0-0-

By the time the four reached the mess hall, the rest of the Order was just gearing up for the time of the day Daisya affectionately called rush hour because of the men and women who hurried to breakfast or to their stations to begin their afternoon shifts much like the people of Bodrum every morning.

With a tray carrying a bowl of oatmeal, some milk, and a slice of apple pie, Daisya picked his away across the crowded mess hall to the usual spot his comrades had taken up. They often ate in the corner, so often, in fact, the finders and their fellow exorcists avoided the spot to reserve it for them.

The others had already started eating by the time he'd received his breakfast, along with a familiar someone who must've arrived before they had. "Well, if it isn't Old Man Marie!" Daisya called as he came to stand at the edge of the table. "Back from South America so soon?"

"Indeed." The Austrian man answered with a hint of patient annoyance.

"How did it go?" Asked Lenalee, sitting across from her male compatriots. "Wasn't Miss Gwen with you?"

"It went well, though we, as in Gwen and I, didn't find any Innocence. Just another dead end." Marie took a bite of one of the bread rolls on his plate, then turned to Daisya. "Aren't you going to sit down? Lavi was just telling me how you injured yourself again." Daisya groaned and dropped to the floor, crawling dramatically under the table and dismally dragging his food tray after him. Marie turned to the others. "That bad, huh?"

"He's bored; what did you expect?" Lavi asked jovially, cutting one of his pancakes.

Lenalee dejectedly took a bite of the rice she'd ordered, wishing she could help her friend before his bored depression grew too out of hand. His eccentric, creepy, and sometimes disturbing antics had gotten him into big trouble before, especially a year ago when he'd gone over the edge enough to light Kanda's hair on fire. He still claimed it was an accident, but both the Chan and Epstein families were furious, and Daisya had been suspended from active duty even longer, which obviously proved later to be counterproductive despite the fairly large number of exorcists currently with the Order.

She glanced up at Kanda who was eating impassively at the edge of their group. "Something wrong, duckling?" He asked without looking up.

"No, nothing. I was just wondering if we should all do something to cheer Daisya up." She asked hopefully. "You know, since he tends drive himself and everyone else insane."

"It's not a bad plan, but do you have any ideas?" Lavi asked.

"Well, no." Lenalee admitted, realizing that was the bigger evil. She took a bite of one of her biscuits. "But I don't want to see him get into trouble again. You know what I mean?"

"You mean when Yu's ponytail went up in flames?" Lavi asked, failing to hide his snicker. At the time it was pretty serious, but in retrospect, admittedly it was good for a subtle laugh.

Kanda raised his head. "Load of fuss over nothing." He scowled. "He just burned it a couple inches shorter, I got mad and put him in his place; the Order had no reason to interfere. Besides," He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It was just hair."

"Yeah, but—hey!" Lavi cried out and quickly slid to his right. Kanda slid in the opposite direction, looking equally surprised as Daisya awkwardly climbed up between them, clawing at the table top for a good grip until he was sitting on the bench.

Lenalee frowned in confusion and nervously took another bite of her biscuit, hoping Daisya hadn't come to criticize their speculations. She hadn't meant to hurt him, but something had to be done. There was no telling what he would do if he was frustrated enough. She worried about him.

"Hey, Moppet, you still single?" Daisya asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Lenalee froze, mouth open slightly as she was about to take another bite. Had she heard that right? But wasn't he angry with them? His bad disposition seemed to have evaporated.

"If you're setting her up for a lewd joke—" Kanda started.

"I'm not, I'm not." Daisya assured him, grinning slyly at Lenalee.

"I don't like that grin." Kanda planted a hand on his head and roughly shoved him down. "Back under the table, moron."

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Lenalee sighed and returned to her meal, only to have the Turkish exorcist scramble up to sit beside her on her side of the table. She jerked to the right to put some distance between them and looked to the other males across the table for help, but Marie and Kanda seemed more interested in finishing their meals than dealing with their comrade while the look on Lavi's face clearly stated something on the lines of 'What is this creepy bastard planning?'

"So are you?" Daisya persisted.

"I am." She answered uneasily. "Why do you ask?"

He dodged the question. "Why is that? A pretty girl like you should have a lover."

Lenalee's face reddened at the inquiry. She'd grown up surrounded by males for the better part of her life, so the idea of a girl friend was an impossibility since the only other females at the Order were young adults or older. Even before her brother came, she'd developed a close bond with Marie and Kanda when she first came to the Black Order, and then with Daisya and Lavi who showed up a few years later.

But she never thought about _dating_ any of them. Marie was almost thirty and a little old for her, and even if he were younger she viewed him and the other three as older brothers, nothing more. There had been countless times when she was mistaken for someone's girlfriend or, these days, someone's wife, but she was always quick to correct that. "Is there a reason you're asking about that?"

"The way I see it, your brother chases off any man who gets too close to you, am I right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"So, here's the scoop, Moppet." Daisya said, all business-like. "I'm bored as hell, so I need a source of entertainment. Not like that, boys, quit glaring at me." Lenalee looked around at Marie, Kanda, and Lavi to see they were staring in suspicion at their friend, but Daisya continued on without skipping a beat, "So, how about we do a sort of…'mock relationship' to mess with the Chief's head a little."

"You mean like 'pretending to date'?" Lenalee asked, raising an eyebrow. "But doesn't that seem a little mean?"

"Why not?" Daisya asked, prodding for her assent. "It'll keep me busy since I'm injured. Besides, things have been pretty dull around here. Stirring up some excitement would be a public service."

Marie snorted through his nose and took a sip from his water glass, muttering something like, "Only you." But Lenalee didn't quite catch it.

"So, what do you say?" Daisya leaned toward her face with a wide grin. "We'll even set out ground rules if you like. Whatever."

Rules sounded a bit safer, Lenalee noted against her better judgment. She turned to the others for help but found them in their own worlds light years away from the one she'd been stranded in. _So do I go with it?_ She wondered, looking back at Daisya. He was right; it would keep him out of trouble. And perhaps her brother's paranoia of her dating was annoying her just a little; this would teach him a more permanent lesson in contrast to her destroying an insane robot he'd sent after the nice boy she'd had a casual conversation with, or the man she'd met who was married with three kids, or those gentlemen she'd talked to who were just plain too old for her. Lenalee put a hand to her head at the memory. Seriously, where was Komui's logic coming from?

"Moppet?" Lenalee jumped. Daisya grinned in amusement and poked her forehead. "You're getting the glass eyes again."

"Never mind." So what to do? She held up her finger. "I'll do it on three conditions." Daisya's face perked up a little, eyes wide in anticipation. "Number one, don't do anything that'll endanger our friendship."

"Didn't even occur to me."

Lenalee put up another finger. "Number two, when this is over, you'll explain everything to Komui from start to finish and take responsibility if he decides to punish you."

Daisya looked a little uneasy at that one, but he nodded all the same.

"And three," Lenalee concluded, holding up her three middle fingers. "You _have_ to know when enough is enough. I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Absolutely." The grin returned to Daisya's face. "So we're in agreement. Anything else goes?"

"I guess."

"Starting now, then." He snickered wickedly and Lenalee squeaked quietly in alarm, suddenly finding his arm leisurely wrapped around her shoulders and pulling her close.

A loud crash sounded on the other end of the mess hall. Lenalee turned to see her brother staring at her in shock, hands shaking and a pile of food sitting under an upturned tray at his feet. Around him, the rest of the Black Order had turned their eyes to him, then followed his gaze. Lenalee ducked her head in embarrassment as a low murmur rose up from the crowd.

Across the hall, she could see Suman Dark casting them a considering glance before he shrugged and returned to his breakfast. Nearby, two of General Cloud Nyne's former apprentices blinked in surprise then whispered inaudibly between each other, feminine eyes glinting in humor. Lenalee didn't even bother counting all the finders she knew in the mess hall.

Komui suddenly let out a loud, wailing scream of despair with the equivalence of a sick feline's serenade and a corroded train whistle. He probably was caterwauling her name, but it was hard to tell and followed up by a loud, "Daisya, you're a dead man!"

"Uh-oh." With that, the Turkish accommodator sprang up and sprinted out of the room at a speed that would have transformed the Head Nurse into a screaming banshee.

Lavi looked back at the other two exorcists from Tiedoll's group. "You see that coming?" Hearing a thump, he turned to Lenalee and saw the younger exorcist had dropped her head onto the table. "You all right?"

Lenalee lifted her head, a dismal expression etched in her face. "All right, guys, tell me how dumb that was."

Marie reached forward and rested one of his large hands on her shoulder. "I wouldn't say 'dumb' is the right word. You are going along with it to help your friend and you had the common sense to set boundaries. The word you can use is…" He turned to Kanda and Lavi. "One of you help me out. I can't think of it."

"Awesome?" Lavi gave her a thumbs up. No surprise there; he and Daisya were close friends and bound to find themselves in the same kind of mischief.

"Imprudent?" Kanda suggested, finishing the last of his soba.

"No…" Marie frowned. "I'd say it was problematic, but that seems too weak."

"Not at all." Lavi smiled smugly. "Unsettling with an uncertain outcome. I'd say it fits."

-0-0-0-

Author's notes: Why? Because I've only seen this pairing once.

_If Boredom Kills_ takes place maybe a year before Allen came to be at the Order.

…Has anyone else noticed that if you take off the last 'a' in Daisya's name, it spells 'Daisy'? Just saying.

I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention! D. Gray Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino and that's not going to change.

Thank you for reading. Expect Chapter 2 soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Would You Have Dinner With Me?

When he met Lenalee for the first time, the rest of the Order knew her and Kanda as the children with glass eyes. The nickname spawned from their general description: a pair of tragic and morbid child exorcists who never smiled and stared at the world with bleak, vacant eyes. Lenalee, forced away from her brother, and Kanda, who'd seen too much death at too young. A haunted look roamed their pale faces, not unnoticed by the adults around them.

Daisya was thirteen when General Tiedoll brought him to the Main Headquarters to be evaluated. He met Kanda several weeks before Lenalee, when standing in line for lunch. At the time, he thought it was odd the kid in front of him order nothing but some kind of pasta even though he distinctly remembered seeing him with the same meal that morning. "Hey, shouldn't you eat something besides carbohydrates?" He called after him, trying to ignore how much the inquiry made him sound like his mother.

Kanda had turned around and glared at him, then stalked to some isolated table where a larger, dark-skinned fellow quickly joined him. Not particularly hungry, Daisya asked for some bread, cheese, and a couple apples and hurried to the same table. After four days, he still hadn't made any friends and this sour boy was the first child he'd seen in that time. True, he'd always been loner in Bodrum, which was fine with him, but this was a war he'd come into. It seemed best he make as many allies as he could.

When he sat down at the table with a loud "Hiya!", he managed to startle both the kid and the older man. "Oops, sorry. I kinda needed somewhere to sit, and you two looked friendly…ish." He added as the boy glared at him.

Fortunately, the older man noticed. "Oh, come now, Kanda, it's all right if he sits with us." He brushed the back of his hand against his cheek with the affection of an indulgent older sibling. When the kid's expression remained the same, he turned back to Daisya. "You must be the new exorcist. Our teacher mentioned something of the kind."

"Yeah, that's right." He held out his hand. "Daisya Barry."

"It's nice to meet you." The man replied, grasping his hand in turn. "I'm Noise Marie. And this is Kanda."

"Are you exorcists, too?"

"That's right." Marie looked like he was about to say more, but Kanda suddenly took his tray of food and stalked off at an infuriated gait. "Kanda!" Marie shouted after him. The kid didn't listen, nor did he have anything to do with Daisya for several weeks, always watching sullenly from the shadows and inconspicuous corners whenever he was around.

But the day Daisya met Moppet, he was on his way to the training hall when a hand grabbed his sleeve and pulled him aside. He whirled around and looked down, being as Kanda was a good head-and-a-half shorter than him when they met. "What's up?" He asked warily. After all, he'd never once heard this kid's voice, only received the notion of an extreme misanthropic demeanor.

"You talk, right?" Kanda finally asked.

Daisya decided either he enjoyed talking as little as possible or he simply didn't speak English very well. "Uh, yeah, I talk." He answered hesitantly. An unsure look crossed Kanda's face, which was the most innocent Daisya had seen on him since their first encounter. He appeared less feral and hostile without his eyes narrowed to angry slits. Daisya bent to his level. "Hey, are you in some kind of trouble?"

He shook his head and started to run off but stopped after he'd gone a few yards. Daisya could practically see the indecision rolling off the kid's rigid back. What was wrong? Finally, Kanda whirled around and scampered back to him, grasping his hand, then turned and pulled him down the hall in the opposite direction of the training grounds. Daisya had no choice but to follow.

Kanda let go of him after a few paces and broke into a sprint so fast, even Daisya had trouble keeping up. He'd always been a fast runner in Bodrum, but the younger boy ran on ahead until Daisya could only catch glimpses of him darting around corners. Every once in a while, he found him waiting for him at the end of a hallway before taking off again.

At the time, Daisya hadn't known what to make of the change in Kanda's behavior, but he chased after him anyway, partially bewildered how someone so much shorter could have no trouble outrunning him. He was out of breath by the time they reached what he thought was their destination, the infirmary, but Kanda only pushed the metal door open and continued on, only he moved at a convenient trot.

Daisya's puzzlement grew as they passed by the seven emergency rooms and fifteen operating ones, then the women's sickroom, the men's, passed countless exam rooms, storage space, and, alarmingly, into the quarantined section. Daisya frowned at the plaque on the wall, reading: _Psyche Ward. Authorized Personnel Only._

"Hey!" Daisya shouted when Kanda ignored the sign, but the younger exorcist glared back at him and raced to the end of the hall, stopping before an unremarkable, thick, grey door. "You're gonna get us in trouble, kid." Daisya hissed, coming to stand beside him. "This had better be good."

Kanda only opened the door wide enough for them to squeeze through, then closed it behind him and turned to the single bed the room had to offer. Daisya widened his eyes. The girl was two or three years younger than him, with beautiful, long, dark hair and violet eyes. But her porcelain skin was peppered with cuts and bruises that turned her face ugly and tragic. She lay motionless on the bed, restrained by a series of straps, as she stared at the ceiling with unseeing, lifeless eyes. The glass eyes.

Daisya stopped dead in the doorway, hardly noticing when Kanda went to the incapacitated girl's bedside. With a quiet 'oomph', he gracelessly pulled himself onto the mattress and knelt by the girl's head, whispering quietly "Hey, Lena. I brought someone to see you. Would you like to say hi?"

But the girl said nothing, though her dry lips soundlessly moved a little. Kanda gingerly reached forward and plucked a long strand of hair out of her face, slipping it behind her ear. "That's okay. I know you're shy." Without another word, he reached for the fetter holding her bandaged arm in place and began to undo the clasp.

"Hold on, should you really be doing this?" Daisya questioned, looking uneasily at the door. He was half expecting some doctor to come in and throw them out, or that terrifying Head Nurse—seriously, that woman scared the pants off him.

Kanda shot him a glance, then poked the girl's cheek. Her head rolled to the side, eerie in its lifelessness. Daisya shivered. She didn't move at all when the restraints were undone, even the ones around her thin ankles, and she hung limp in the younger boy's arms. Supporting her head, Kanda sat her upright, balancing her in one arm while the other dug into his pocket and produced a silver and ivory comb. "Talk to her." He ordered, flipping the comb in his hand for a good grip. "Hold her hand and talk to her like she's a real person."

Baffled, Daisya did as he was told, leaping onto the bed with more ease than Kanda had and taking the girl's limp hands in his. But as he tried to speak, no sound came out. Behind the girl, Kanda took a clump of hair in his hands and ran the teeth of the comb through it. "Talk."

"A-all right." Daisya took a deep breath. "Hey, um…" There was nothing in the girl's eyes, only a vacant stare that bored through him and made him nervous. Her expression was empty, as if she hadn't spoken for a very long time. Daisya frowned. This was ridiculous! But Kanda glared at him, so he cleared his throat and began.

He told her his name, and that he was an exorcist, and where he was from. He talked about the boring life he'd led before he left for the Order, his family's lame souvenir shop, the routine fishing trips in the harbor, the dull markets, every detail he could remember. He told her about his family; jerk dad, nagging mom, annoying brothers, and crybaby sister, everything from the parental scolding to the brothers fighting, biting, and yanking at each others hair while the little sister looked on, wailing miserably. He brought up the bad times; when his older sister fell ill and died when he was about five years old, the morning Darry almost drowned in the harbor and rescued only by sheer luck, his grandfather's funeral, when he'd broken his nose at age eight and left it with a permanent bump to remind him for years to come, and the multitude of irritating tourists constantly pouring in from foreign lands. Kanda smirked in agreement at that one.

But there had been good times in his old home, too. His dad had taught him how to fish, weave and repair nets, and to make fishing line. Some of his better memories belonged to Bodrum's harbor, hauling nets and lobster traps with his father and sister. He could remember sitting in front of the family's old, black cook stove with his little brothers to keep warm as his mother cooked dinner. When he was young, he loved to watch the shows put on by traveling performers that often frequented the city. He was good at mathematics, thanks to the long hours of working out the family revenue from their small shop.

He didn't remember much of his big sister, Dana, just a mischievous face with voluminous, bouncy curls of black hair tied back in a bushy ponytail. She liked to talk big, like he did. She would always point to the horizon over the ocean and talk about how one day when she was old enough she would climb aboard the first ship and sail far away. That's right; he always cried when she talked like that. But she yearned for adventure, not to disappear into a small port town where the economy thrived on fish and tourism. Maybe that's where his own wildness had come from. And when she was gone, his final memories of her were in the parlor where he saw a white sheet draped over her thin body.

Mornings in Bodrum were hectic, he reflected to the girl. He always had to help his little brothers get ready for school since his mother was preoccupied with their new baby sister and opening up the shop. Classes were pretty basic but boring and crowded into one windowless room a few blocks from the square. They didn't have school in the summer because of how hot it was in there.

His favorite part of the day was the soccer games he and his peers played outside of town. He confided he wasn't exactly well liked among the other boys during that time, which earned him a snort from Kanda as he finished with the girl's hair.

"Done already?"

"Keep talking." Kanda told him, climbing down from the bed and going to the sink at the side of the room.

Daisya obeyed, keeping an eye on Kanda as he filled the bucket sitting on the floor with warm, soapy water and retrieved a sponge from the cupboard. Daisya kept talking, even when Kanda pulled the girl down from the bed with strength surprising for his size and settled her on the tiled floor of the bathroom.

Almost as soon as he'd done so, Daisya heard the door open and assumed they'd been discovered. But instead of a doctor yelling angrily at them to get out, a woman wearing the uniform of a nurse slipped into the lavatory. "Oh, here you are." She eyed Daisya suspiciously, then turned to Kanda, who nodded solemnly. Tossing one more glance in his direction, the nurse stepped forward and shooed the younger exorcist aside. "I'll take it from here." She said as she pulled a colorless screen between them and her and the girl.

Kanda elbowed him sharply. "Keep talking."

So he described Sunday mornings in the stuffy church his family attended as they watched the silhouette of the nurse and the girl. As her dress was pulled off, Daisya could see the girl's knobby arms while the nurse retrieved a bucket and ran a sponge across her shoulders, behind her thin neck, around her gaunt ribcage, and up and down her fragile arms and legs.

She was like a doll, he realized when Kanda darted out of the lavatory and came back with a new dress, this one just as black and dismal as the first. He passed it to the nurse behind the screen, who then pulled the garment over the girl's head, threaded her arms through the sleeves, and tied and fastened the various laces and buttons ranging the outfit. At last, the nurse moved the screen aside and nodded to them with a quiet, "Good day, exorcists."

She'd left the girl lying face up on the floor with a towel behind her head and her hands folded elegantly on her thin chest. Going to her, Daisya cradled her head in his arms to let Kanda pulled the black stockings over her legs. No shoes were present.

Then Kanda lifted the girl up, pulled her back onto the hospital bed, and redid the unforgiving restraints. Daisya stopped talking when the younger boy kissed the girl's forehead and slid off the bed. He took him by the hand and brought him outside, closing the door and walking away.

They'd gone only a few yards before Daisya had the courage to ask, "Who is she?" Kanda said nothing. "Fine, will you at least tell me what's wrong with her?"

"She snapped."

"She snapped?"

Kanda nodded with a sense of seriousness eerie to a child his age. "Like a rubber band."

Daisya fell silent and looked back at the vanishing door, trying to process what he'd just seen. Kanda refused to tell him anything else about her, so he was compelled to do his own digging for answers. Eventually, he discovered by asking around the girl was called Lenalee, a Chinese exorcist who'd been separated from her brother four years ago. The year before, she'd been admitted to the mental ward of the Infirmary on account of her increasingly desperate escape attempts, erratic behavior, and a near-fatal suicide.

It hadn't just been Lenalee at the time, either. The last ten or so years under the headship of Supervisor Malcolm C. Leverrier had left the Black Order with scores of innocent people killed by brutal apostle experiments and a string of exorcists with viciously scarred bodies and all sorts of mental trauma cases.

Kanda had been no exception. Although Daisya found it was harder to see it in him than Lenalee, the younger boy was just as lost as the restrained girl. It wasn't until three or four days after getting to know him better Daisya noticed the dark circles around his eyes and his frequent headaches. He was frighteningly skinny, too, despite all those bowls of soba, and he had a tendency to shy away from people he didn't know, especially the scientists. He really seemed to hate the scientists.

Other exorcists had their own problems as well: eating disorders, nervous disorders, constant disheveled appearances, ever present injuries. Seeing the pain his comrades felt, Daisya wondered how long it would be before he, too, snapped like a rubber band. How long would it be before he was confined to a cell, clad in depressing black clothes, with whatever psychosis that afflicted him?

Still he visited the girl with Kanda and his self-conversations with her grew into an even wider variety of topics, ranging from events in his childhood to peculiar moments in his new life at the Order. He told her stories his mother had told him and his siblings, mostly the adventure sagas he liked so well. He sang songs, most of which were poor renditions of the Bodrum's local dances. He repeated jokes, which sometimes made her smile, but he knew what he did had to have been helping a little when he'd gotten a sharp squeak of bitten off laughter from Kanda who then shot him a warning look and ignored him the rest of the day.

But never did Lenalee respond. Occasionally, life flickered in her dull, violet eyes and her expression would brighten, but she never said a word to either of them, much to their disappointment. However, in the darkness of her deranged mind, she frequently repeated the faint words, "I…wanna go home. Let me…see my brother."

And then, one day about six months later, the doctors asked them to stop coming. At first, Daisya thought she'd died sometime in the night, and he remembered how hollow he felt after that, losing the catatonic girl he'd grown so attached to. Kanda was furious no one was telling them anything, so he set out for answers himself and severed any contact with Daisya for a time.

After searching for three or four days, Daisya finally tracked him down in the communications room on one of the golem lines. The younger boy was perched atop of one of the large, metal desks and somberly swinging his scrawny legs. "Uh-huh. _Shì de, wǒ xiāngxìn._" He appeared rather bored with the conversation, at least enough so where he actually acknowledged Daisya's presence with a short wave when he walked in. "Mm-mm." He yawned.

Feeling miserable, Daisya settled down on the pile of coats and blankets that had apparently been serving as Kanda's bed for the last few nights. _What's he been doing in here? Evolving into a social status fanatic?_ Daisya asked himself as he listened to the fast, confusing language Kanda spoke. _Is that Japanese or Chinese?_ As a former citizen of a port town, he'd learned nearly every language in the Mediterranean, but he'd never got around to Asian vernaculars.

Suddenly, Kanda lifted his head up, black eyes wide, hopeful even. "_Nǐ kěndìng ma?_" He paused, nodding and answering shortly in the funny language. Finally, looking almost relieved, he answered, "_Arigatou, Nii-san! Xie xie!_" And hung up.

Daisya looked up at him as he jumped down from the desk. "What's up?"

The younger boy crossed his arms and stared down at him. "Lena's alive. She's doing better now."

It was because her older brother came back she was recovering. Unwilling to disrupt the fragility of her mental state, the doctors had stopped allowing anyone other than family and registered medics to see her. The reason they'd kept Daisya and Kanda in the dark was they didn't want them to get their hopes up.

After hearing the news, the two of them had run to the infirmary immediately and requested entry, but a pack of doctors shook their heads no, claiming Lenalee wasn't stable enough for too many people. It took a great deal of pleading from Daisya and a few threats from Kanda, but they were eventually allowed to see her at her brother's consent.

She was no longer restrained Daisya noted when he entered the room. Kanda pulled himself up onto her bedside while Daisya hung back in the door. Lenalee was delighted to see Kanda, but she looked at Daisya as though she were meeting him for the first time, shaking her head in bewilderment when Kanda insisted he'd been coming to visit her as well.

Her brother thanked them as gratefully as he could and paid no heed to Daisya's disclaimer of caring for his sister. "I didn't do much." He protested, gesturing to Kanda. "That one's been with her the longest. All I did was talk to her."

"Nonsense." Komui stated doubtlessly. "You did well no matter how long you've been here."

And Lenalee nodded, asking for one of the stories he'd told her in hopes she would remember.

"What are you thinking about, Daisya?" Lenalee's voice cut into his thoughts, startling him back into the present. Her smiling face appeared in front of him. "You've got that thoughtful look about you."

Daisya studied her contemplatively.

"Daisya?"

"Hey, you wanna grab dinner or something tonight?" Time to get this mock date rolling.

Author's Notes: There you have it. Chapter 2. Sorry if I made Kanda seem a little out of character but understand half the reason for his behavior comes from the pain of losing Alma and not wanting a similar fate for Lenalee. The other half is that he's still a kid and doesn't quite have the mentality he has when he's older.

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**Translations**

Shì de, wǒ xiāngxìn. – Yes, I'm sure. (Chinese)

_Nǐ kěndìng ma?_ – Are you sure? (Chinese)

_Arigatou, nii-san._ – Thank you, Brother. (Japanese)

_Xie xie_ – Thank you. (Chinese)

I had to use Google Translate, so the Chinese phrases might not be totally accurate, but I'm pretty positive 'xie xie' is correct.

Sorry if you don't like flashbacks; this'll be the only one, I promise. I thought it would be best to write my version of how Lenalee and Daisya met and how close they are as friends. The fun stuff starts in the next chapter. Chapter 3 is complete and in the process of proofreading, so expect it soon.

Hey...you see that little box where you can leave reviews? It's a wonderful box. Please?

Thank you for reading!


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